diff --git a/vertical-pod-autoscaler/pkg/target/controller_fetcher/controller_fetcher.go b/vertical-pod-autoscaler/pkg/target/controller_fetcher/controller_fetcher.go
index dcbd11ee210d..9346e5f5ab5c 100644
--- a/vertical-pod-autoscaler/pkg/target/controller_fetcher/controller_fetcher.go
+++ b/vertical-pod-autoscaler/pkg/target/controller_fetcher/controller_fetcher.go
@@ -257,9 +257,6 @@ func (f *controllerFetcher) isWellKnownOrScalable(key *ControllerKeyWithAPIVersi
 	if f.isWellKnown(key) {
 		return true
 	}
-	if gk, err := key.groupKind(); err != nil && wellKnownController(gk.Kind) == node {
-		return false
-	}
 
 	//if not well known check if it supports scaling
 	groupKind, err := key.groupKind()
@@ -268,6 +265,10 @@ func (f *controllerFetcher) isWellKnownOrScalable(key *ControllerKeyWithAPIVersi
 		return false
 	}
 
+	if wellKnownController(groupKind.Kind) == node {
+		return false
+	}
+
 	mappings, err := f.mapper.RESTMappings(groupKind)
 	if err != nil {
 		klog.Errorf("Could not find mappings for %s: %v", groupKind, err)
@@ -286,7 +287,7 @@ func (f *controllerFetcher) isWellKnownOrScalable(key *ControllerKeyWithAPIVersi
 
 func (f *controllerFetcher) getOwnerForScaleResource(groupKind schema.GroupKind, namespace, name string) (*ControllerKeyWithAPIVersion, error) {
 	if wellKnownController(groupKind.Kind) == node {
-		// Some pods specify nods as their owners. This causes performance problems
+		// Some pods specify nodes as their owners. This causes performance problems
 		// in big clusters when VPA tries to get all nodes. We know nodes aren't
 		// valid controllers so we can skip trying to fetch them.
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("node is not a valid owner")